‘Schmigadoon!’ is a Love Letter to Broadway’s Golden Age
metroweekly.comSchmigadoon!, a rousing musical stage adaptation of the Emmy-winning Apple TV series.Series co-creator Cinco Paul, who wrote all the songs for the two seasons of the loving sendup of musicals, also wrote the book, music, and lyrics translating Schmigadoon!
from TV to stage. Condensing season one of the series into a robust two acts, Paul provides the streamlined vessel, and director-choreographer Christopher Gattelli (Death Becomes Her) expertly steers it to the magical town of Schmigadoon and back.Gattelli also choreographed both seasons of the series, and knows his way around these songs, these characters, and this wacky little burg where life is like a Golden Age musical, with showtunes and situations inspired by Oklahoma!, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, Brigadoon, and more.Gattelli’s staging has a knack for moving and grouping the large cast of townspeople around Scott Pask’s playfully theatrical sets, drawing focus to exactly where it needs to be.
Often that focus is on the high-kicking choreography, well-executed by an energetic, in-sync ensemble.Schmigadoon! hits a home run with its cast, down to the youngest performer in the lineup, eight-year-old Ayaan Diop, making his professional debut as well-informed town cryer Carson Tate, the much younger brother of schoolteacher Emma Tate, a role sung and danced beautifully by Isabelle McCalla.Emma and Carson’s story mingles comedy and pathos sweetly, as does the journey of Brad Oscar’s appropriately-named Mayor Menlove and his dear, dim wife Florence, played by Ann Harada, delightfully reprising her role from the series.Broadway vet Harada, among a cast overflowing with Broadway talent, is the only TV cast member to return to Schmigadoon!.
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